The king instructs Feijóo to attempt the investiture without having guaranteed the necessary support

Even so, Feijóo will undergo a session in Congress to try to gather the necessary parliamentary support to be invested. A success that, far from being guaranteed as he himself has acknowledged, is subject to an a priori impossible political carambola because it requires support as incompatible as that of Vox and the PNV, something expressly ruled out by the Basque nationalists.

Despite not having those supports tied up, the head of state has chosen him as a candidate for an inauguration that has not yet been dated, as President Armengol announced in an appearance in Congress after eight in the afternoon this Tuesday. “His Majesty the King, having completed the consultations with the groups with representation that have wanted to attend, has informed me of his decision to propose Mr. Alberto Núñez Feijóo.”

The president of the Lower House preferred, for the moment, not to give details of when the debate and the investiture vote will take place. “I will contact the candidate to find out his opinion. Once I have spoken with him, I will make the decision that I think is most appropriate, ”she concluded.

The one on the date of that investiture, in principle, failed, threatening to become the next political clash between the PP and the PSOE. The leader of the popular groups expressly assured in his appearance in Congress that he does not want the session to be held next week because, he assured, he needs more time to start negotiations that he said will not start until next Monday.

However, Feijóo’s wishes collide with a devilish electoral calendar. In the event of an electoral repetition, a scenario that cannot be ruled out in the event that Pedro Sánchez fails to finalize his negotiations with the Catalan independence movement, the holidays of the upcoming Christmas holidays are planned on the horizon. The Constitution establishes that from the first investiture vote the Cortes are automatically dissolved if within a period of 60 days there is no president of the Government, to which 47 days would have to be added for a new electoral call. In summary, for a hypothetical electoral repetition not to coincide with Christmas, the first investiture vote would not have to take place in any case between September 7 and 21. In this way, and despite Feijóo’s preferences, next week is shaping up to be one of the most viable dates for his investiture attempt to take place.

Feijóo will not negotiate before Monday

The leader of the PP, who also appeared in Congress on Tuesday afternoon, assured that his intention is to start contacts with the groups as of Monday, given that the term for them to be constituted ends on Friday. An argument that clashes with the fact that Feijóo has already reached agreements with UPN, CC and Vox before this formality was fulfilled.

In his appointment with Felipe VI, the former president of the Xunta demanded that the head of state designate him as a candidate. “I want to announce my willingness to be a candidate for the inauguration as Prime Minister if the King considers it so,” he said at a press conference in Congress after leaving Zarzuela.

Upon arrival at the round of consultations, at four in the afternoon, the votes that the two candidates had managed to obtain for the moment were already clear. The PP leader has 172 insured, after Vox has not fulfilled the threat to withdraw its support after leaving them off the Congress Table last week. Sánchez, for his part, can only confirm 152 favorable votes at the moment, since ERC, Junts, EH Bildu and the BNG have not attended the meeting with the head of state.

The PNV has attended, but has not revealed the meaning of its vote and from the Basque formation they have limited themselves to pointing out that “no candidate” has it. What they have made clear is that they have no intention of supporting Feijóo as long as that means joining their votes with those of Vox, an approach that disrupts any investiture option for the PP leader.

Feijóo thus has 172 sure votes, four away from the absolute majority that would guarantee him the investiture. But he adds more against: 178. That number is Sánchez’s objective and, even if he does not get them for him, in theory they will not be for Feijóo, so the Galician cannot be sworn in as president in the first or second round, when it is the simple majority is sufficient: except for surprises, therefore, it will have more ‘no’ than ‘yes’.

Sánchez, to Feijóo: “An investiture is not an exhibition procedure”

Before Felipe VI officially commissioned the investiture to the leader of the PP, Pedro Sánchez had remarked that “whatever decision the head of state makes, he has the support and respect of the PSOE.” However, in an appearance at the Palacio de la Moncloa after passing through the Zarzuela, the acting President of the Government had sent a message to Alberto Núñez Feijóo: “An investiture session is not an exhibition process, its sole purpose is to gather the necessary parliamentary support for the formation of a new government”. In this sense, the PSOE candidate added that, although the PP leader “is within his rights” the investiture would be, in any case, “failed.”

“There is no other alternative than reissuing a government of progress that consolidates the advances of recent years” he insisted to recall that “those who presented themselves with a repealing project did not obtain enough votes or seats” to form a government. “His efforts and contortions to qualify for an inauguration are perfectly legitimate, but futile,” he remarked.

Yolanda Díaz criticizes that Feijóo “pours” Spain into a failed investiture

From Sumar, the coalition led by Yolanda Díaz, they regret that an investiture is going to take place “that everyone knows will fail.” Sources of the formation consider that Feijóo “leads” the Spanish citizenship to an investiture that “will not go about the problems of Spain, but about the problems” of the leader of the PP.

“He was defeated on July 23, he was defeated in the Table Constitution and he will be defeated again,” they say from the formation led by Díaz about the PP candidate. While this happens, in Sumar they assure that they will continue working “with discretion, with responsibility and at the highest level”, in what they consider to be “the only possible path: a progressive government with multinational sensitivity”. “A government that is formed as soon as possible to work and make life easier for those who have it more difficult,” they add, informa Fatima Knight.